The Life and Times of Cloud Strife
by Signora Ted
Summary: Sephiroth has been defeated. The planet is recovering from Meteor. Where is Cloud's place now that the threat has vanished? CloTi & Yuffietine. T for language. Mostly from Cloud's PoV.
1. Prologue

**_A/N: I can't believe I'm starting another story -_-. I've been replaying FFVII again and I just... Ack, they're so cute. CloTi and Yuffietine are just so... Ack! Anyway, I don't own FFVII, SquareEnix does. Please leave a review :)_**

* * *

Every morning, Cloud Strife would wake up and begin his morning ritual. He would have a quick shower, give his teeth a brush, throw on his clothes and just as he would be leaving his room, he would run a hand through his blond hair. Downstairs, he would pop two slices of bread into the toaster and pour himself a mug of freshly brewed black coffee. Just as the toast pops, he would drop his empty mug into the sink and snatch up the toast in his hand as he locked the door and left for work. This is how a normal day would go for Cloud. However Cloud never had a normal day. The last normal day he had was years ago before he left his hometown. Now, he lived an extraordinary life. Of course this extraordinary life included being tested on in a lab, losing five years of his life, losing himself to a homicidal manic who was trying to destroy the world... Losing a friend. All these seemingly outlandish events were what led him to be where he was now. And that was in his own bedroom above the bar of Seventh Heaven in Edge.

True, he did go through the same morning ritual as he would in a normal life, but once he opened his bedroom door, it became obvious to him that a normal life was just an idea in the back of his mind.  
When he opened his bedroom door, instead of being greeted by the silence of an empty apartment, his ears were abused with the yelling and whining of children downstairs. The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his black slacks and made his way down the stairs to face the day.

"Marlene, I'm almost done. Just hold still for one minute longer!"

As Cloud slowly entered the kitchen from the hallway, he let his mouth turn up into a half smile. Marlene was seated on the island counter as Tifa brushed a few strands of the little girl's chocolate hair, before folding it into the braid and grasping another section of hair to brush.  
The girl was squirming to look over her shoulder to see what was going on on the television screen in the front area of the kitchen, where Denzel was perched on the couch with his cereal.  
Cloud made his way over to the wooden cupboards that housed the bowls and assembled all that he would need for his breakfast. Just as he was about to sit down beside the brown haired boy, something caught his eye.

"Uh, Teef?"

"What?"

She was still wrestling with Marlene's hair as she held the pink ribbon between her teeth while she weaved the girls hair together with her nimble fingers.

"Is the iron supposed to be smoking?"

Tifa dropped the ribbon and Marlene's hair and whipped around to see what Cloud was talking about. On the ironing board in the middle of the kitchen, a black smoke began to rise from the blue dress she had been ironing.

"Oh sh-"

Grabbing the iron and waving the smoke away, she groaned as she inspected the damage on her dress.

"It's ruined!" she cried out, leaning on the ironing board on her elbows.

"My favourite dress! Agh!"

She quickly yanked the plug of the iron out of the socket and snatched her dress up before storming out of the room with frustration.

Cloud was left with Denzel, who was turned around on the couch to observe the situation, and Marlene picking up the ribbon to put in her hair.

"Just let her burn her anger off," Denzel said off handedly, as if this was a common occurrence. Suddenly realizing the accidental pun in his words, he sniggered and bit his lip.

"Too soon?"

Cloud rolled his eyes before setting his breakfast bowl onto the counter, freeing his hands to lift Marlene down.

"Thank you Cloud!" and with that she hopped over to the couch to watch the animated movie that was on the television.

With a long sigh, Cloud finally sat down between the two children with his breakfast and dug in.

So no, Cloud Strife did not live a normal life.

"Cloud?"

"Yes Marlene?"

"Why do you put sweet chili sauce in your cereal?"

"Why do you put milk in yours?"

He wasn't questioned any further.


	2. Getting to Know Vincent Valentine

"Cloud, Tifa, Marlene and Denzel are unavailable at the moment. Leave a message and we'll try to get back to yea!"

Beep.

"Cloud,"

Cloud froze over his maps and documents as he heard the chillingly deep voice call his name over the phone. While working, he usually left the phone go onto the answering machine but this call took him off guard. Standing up, he made his way across his office and picked up the phone.

"Vincent," he began, furrowing his brow. "How did you... Know I was actually here?"

There was small grunt of amusement over the phone line. Cloud could almost see the faint smirk the ex-Turk would be wearing.

"Call it intuition. I need your help."

Help? Cloud groaned internally, deciding it was probably best not to irritate the cloaked man too much. Weren't all the bad guys gone? Couldn't the world leave him be for a few weeks? Did the universe really hate him that much? Alas, Cloud figured he may as well aid his friend as much as he could. Although he wouldn't admit it, fighting bad guys felt more normal that delivering birthday presents to kids from the grandparents every day.

"Uh, what kind of help?"

There was a small silence as Cloud awkwardly waited for Vincent to reply. The man was obviously debating with himself.

"Can you make it to Nibelheim by tomorrow?"

"I guess so but-"

"Good. I will see you then."

And Vincent hung up. Letting out a dramatic sigh, Cloud kicked his chair back by the leg and sat back in it, setting his booted feet on top of his desk.

"Nibelheim..." he mumbled, snatching up a map of a route to his hometown. _A good bit of travel for one day_, he thought as he scanned the paper. A small smile graced his lips. _Challenge accepted._

* * *

With four hours of sleep the previous night and an almost none stop bike ride through the plains, Cloud finally reached his destination. He quickly left Tifa a short message explaining where he had gone as he had left long before she had woken up. Letting another sigh fall from his lips, the blond lifted his swords together and fastened them on his back. Unsure of what help Vincent needed, Cloud had also packed materia in case of anything...special. Taking out his phone again, he pressed call on Vincent's contact and waited for an answer.

"Hey, uh. Where are you exactly?"

"The Shinra Mansion"

He almost growled with frustration as he slipped the phone into his pocket. The man hung up on him again! Was he this annoying while he had Geostigma? Silently, Cloud vowed to never cut a phone call short on anyone again.

He was quite curious now as to what Vincent needed of him. It was common knowledge to everyone in Avalanche that Vincent had taken up residence in the mansion after Deepground. Cloud and a few of the others had helped him clear it of monsters and Tifa, Yuffie and Shera had a field day re-furbishing it. Cloud remembered laughing in the corner with Cid as they watched the women harass Vincent on which colour he wanted a particular room. Cloud didn't think he had ever seen the Turk quite as frightened before.

Knocking on the front door of the large house, Cloud shifted awkwardly between feet. It had become a habit of his recently. Probably just because he had become socially retarded and didn't know how to act around normal people who weren't going to kill him. Or in Avalanche's case, do something highly embarrassing and inappropriate to him. Oh how he longed for the days where they spent every twenty four hours together in tents in the middle of a forest. Not.

"Cloud,"

He looked up suddenly, brought out of his musings, to see Vincent calmly standing in the door. Does he go inside? Does he wait for Vincent's invitation? The internal dilemma was tearing him apart!

"Hey. I, uh, am here?"

He didn't mean for it to be a question but his voice seemed to disagree with his statement. Oh how he loathed his social skills.

"Yes. I need your assistance with something Cloud. I did not know who else to call."

_Cid? Barret? Tifa? Hell, everyone turns to Tifa for help!_ However Cloud did not voice his thoughts.

"Yea so what, uh, is the problem?"

Vincent didn't even reply, instead looked at the blond solemnly and turned to lead him into the house. Cloud probably would've been ashamed to admit that his first thought was that someone had died but then realized Vincent always acted as if someone had died.  
Shrugging his shoulders, he followed the cloaked man inside.

He had to admit, they had done a pretty damn good job fixing the place up. It also seemed that Vincent was a dirtaphobe. There was not one cobweb to be seen, nor a speck of dust lying on the banisters of the stairs. Maybe Vincent was a maid in his free time from being a savior of the planet. Hardly as outrageous as Cid getting married. Which he did, as a matter of fact.

"In here," Vincent said, motioning towards one of the bedrooms on the right side of the house.

Giving Vincent a suspicious look, Cloud cautiously turned the knob of the door. His body went cold when he saw what the room contained.

"SPIKEY!"

Struggling to breath with the little ninja's arms around his neck, Cloud slowly tried to free himself from her grasp.

"Yu..ffie... Can't...breathe...kill...you...my...sword"

Surprisingly enough, she actually released him from her death hold and instead of beaming up at him with the most sickingly enthusiastic grin; the heir to Wutai burst into tears and latched herself onto the front of Cloud's shirt.

"I was...so happy to...see you that I...briefly forgot...'bout...HIM!"

And with the last word of her sentence that she spit out with hatred, she shoved her face into Cloud's chest again and sobbed uncontrollably.

He was going to kill Vincent.

"Uh, Yuffs? Ssh, can you... Calm down or something?"

Her head snapped up so her giant eyes were looking right up at him before she released him again and placed her hands on her hips.

"Calm down or something?!" she exclaimed, far too loudly for Cloud's ear drums to cope. "I'd like to see you calm your ass down if you were being forced to marry that old creepy asshole!"

Oh, Cloud was really going to kill Vincent.

"Yuffie, all you have to do is say no. I mean, I understand. I'm sure he's a lovely guy and everything but I'm also sure as hell I wouldn't be able to stick the depressive atmosphere every day."

Yuffie stopped sniffling and stared blankly at Cloud for a moment.

"You think- You think Vinnie-"

Before she could finish the sentence, the young ninja was clutching her stomach with laughter, tears beginning to trail down her cheeks.

"You think Vinnie- Vinnie asked me to- to marry hi-him!" which was followed by another roll of laughter.

_Well don't I feel stupid, _Cloud thought momentarily as he watched Yuffie gasp for air. Always assuming the most stupid things.

"Yea, I know. I'm hilarious." he said deadpanned, obviously having enough of Yuffie's unlady-like cackle. "What's really going on Yuffs? I hope you know I drove all the way from Edge just for this."

Yuffie's amused smirk almost instantly turned into a pout as she sat on the cream duvet of the bed in the room and crossed her arms.

"Godo is making me marry some dude who's like, twenty years older than me. He's going to make me his wife slave, Cloudy! I can't tie my own shoe laces, never mind look after a man and a house!"

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the Wutain as her overdramatic pout soon turned into a mischievous smirk.

"What do you want from me?" he asked bluntly. There was no point beating around the bush with Yuffie.

"A place to stay while I come up with an idea to evade Godo and marriage?"

She looked up at him with puppy dog eyes, pouting her lower lip for emphasis. Cloud sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Speaking hypothetically, just say I said yes. What would Tifa and I get out of this in return?"

Yuffie bounded up off the bed, grinning and wrapped her arms around Cloud's right forearm, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well," she began.

_Oh no,_ he thought._ Bad idea._

"I could help Teef 'round the bar for starters,"

_Hell no. She'd drink all the alcohol and yell at the customers._

"And I could babysit the tots if you and Tifa ever wanted to, yea know... Have dinner out... By yourselves... Alone,"

At first he objected to that one too, but slowly as blush crept up his neck, it didn't seem like that much of a bad idea.

"And I could also help cooking around the kitchen. I make a mean cheese on toast."

And that was it. She just ruined it for herself. Cloud vividly remembered staying at the hotel in the Gold Saucer and Yuffie decided to make toast. She set her room on fire.

"One condition, Yuffie," he replied seriously.

She looked up at him hopefully.

"Yea? Yea, anything? I'll do anything Cloudy?"

He bent down and looked her in the eye, hoping she would actually listen.

"Not, under any circumstance, are you to cook. I forbid you from cooking."

She raised a thin eyebrow and then hopped onto Cloud, keeping herself up by wrapping her legs around his muscled abdomen and her arms around his neck.

"Ooh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Cloud rolled his eyes before pushing the ninja away from him and slammed the door behind him as she packed away her things into a rucksack.

"Why couldn't she stay with you? Is this seriously why you called me all the way out Nibelheim, Vincent?"

The Turk was silent as he led Cloud into the large kitchen of the house. _The least he could do is feed me, _Cloud thought dryly as he pulled out a chair from under the dark wooden dining table.

"Would you enjoy some food while Yuffie prepared herself?"

_Could I poke him with a large stick please? _Cloud thought to himself as his grunted in response.

"You still haven't answered my question, Vincent."

Cloud watched as the older man removed his golden claw and leather gloves, revealing pale white hands that soon began working on heating up some sort of soup on the stove. Cloud snorted a laugh, thinking back to the time when they had first met Vincent, and the thought of him working away in a kitchen would have been as preposterous as Sephiroth performing ballet. It seemed Vincent too, had changed since Meteor.

"I believe she would be in danger here, Cloud." he finally replied, chopping up some herbs and tossing them into the pot. "She will be safer with you and Tifa in Edge."

"What is she in danger from?" Cloud asked, leaning back in his chair and swinging it backwards.

"I tell you this with great confidence that it will not be spoken to her, or anyone else, Cloud. I trust you to keep your word."

He was making Cloud nervous. What could be so bad that the rest of Avalanche couldn't know?

"Vincent…What is it?"

He was silent as he carried over a bowl of what looked like minestrone soup and a spoon. Despite feeling nervous at the topic of discussion, Cloud's stomach growled when he smelt the food. It looked wonderful.

"I have been having...stirrings."

Cloud looked at Vincent suspiciously as the gunslinger sat down at the table opposite him.

"Stirr...ings..?"

His spoon met his lips and he almost melted at the dozens of gorgeous tastes that hit him. _Who knew Vincent was such a fantastic cook? _

"I have been having...feelings. Of a nature I have not experienced in quite some while. Not since I was a Turk."

Cloud dropped his spoon into the bowl, causing some of the liquid to splash up on his shirt. _Great,_ he thought sarcastically. _Yuffie tears and soup. Poor shirt._

"What kind of...feelings? Vincent, what are you getting at? What has this to do with Yuffie?"

_Oh no._

"I fear I have-"

_Oh Gaia no._

"-developed certain feelings towards-"

_Vincent no!_

"-Yuffie that I cannot explain and I worry that if she stays here with me that I might-"

_Oh god, I can't believe this conversation is real._

"-compromise our friendship."

Vincent had been looking down at the table during his dramatic confession so he was unaware of the expression that was now stretched across Cloud's face.

Utter shock. His jaw was dangling from its joints as he dared blankly across the table.

"...Cloud?"

_No_, Cloud thought, trying to calculate how many people he would probably manage to let it slip to.

Tifa obviously as nowadays he seemed unable to keep anything from her. Marlene would probably get it out of him because of that innocent little girl thing she's got going on. Hell, the next time Barret looked at Cloud he would probably spill the beans in fear that when the one handed man finally found out he would pummel Cloud into the ground. Barret thought of Yuffie as the niece he never had and Tifa the daughter he never had. Speaking of daughter, despite his constant use of the name 'brat', Cid had become extremely over protective of the little ninja and probably considered himself the only proper father figure she's ever had.

_Oh god I'm doomed._

"Cloud?"

"Uh yea Vincent, em. That's great to hear. It's good to, uh, have emotions and feelings and...stuff."

_Damn it all to hell,_ he cursed in his mind. He did not speak well under pressure.

"I am glad...you understand...Cloud."

Giving Vincent an unconvincing smile, Cloud looked back down to his soup, suddenly losing his appetite.

The world hated him. He was convinced now. Those in the lifestream had great pleasure watching him suffer like an ant under a boot. He hated the world.

Quickly finishing off the pasta at the bottom of his soup bowl, Cloud promptly scooped his dish up, glided over to the sink and dumped it in, picked up his swords from where he had left them by the table and exited the room to retrieve Yuffie. Somehow, he managed to avoid eye contact.

"Ready to go Cloudy?" she chirped as she met him at the front door.

Dressed in her normal shorts, tank top and brace, she had a green rucksack slung over her shoulder and a grin stretched across her face.

Did she not even think about the fact she would be riding Fenrir before she dressed?

With a sigh and another roll of the eyes, Cloud opened the door and held it open for her.

"Let's go then Yuffie."

Before she went through the door she turned on her heel and launched herself a Vincent, who apparently had followed Cloud out of the kitchen.

"Bye Vinnie. Gonna miss you. I hope you clean the mansion out of those spider-monkeys soon so I can come visit again,"

She gave him an extravagant kiss on the cheek and Cloud had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at the pink tint that was now visible on the gunslinger's face.

_Wait a minute. Spider-monkeys?_

Before she released Vincent from her embrace of death, Cloud managed to send Vincent a questioning glance, which he received a threatening 'not a word' glare in return.

Needless to say, as Cloud suffered through the journey back to Edge with Yuffie babbling in his ear, he lost himself in his thoughts; trying to understand how Vincent had somehow convinced Yuffie that the mansion was infested with spider-monkeys.

* * *

**_A/N: I will admit, I'm really enjoying this. I watched Advent Children Complete today for the first time since I don't have a Blu-Ray player and only have the normal version of the film. HOLY CRAP. I swear, so much cuteness in it. Also, I'm assuming some of you have also noticed the wolf ring Tifa wears on her right hand ring finger? Ick! And Denzel wears one around his neck on a chain. :') I think Barret has one too actually... Sorry. A/N's won't usually be this long. _**

**_But anyway. Loving CloTi at the moment. naeknfrhgsks  
_**

**_Reviews:_**

**_sunflowerspot: _****_  
Don't we all have them? I'm sorry but I can't imagine a peaceful atmosphere in the morning in 7th Heaven, can you? :P I imagine chaos with two kids written all over it. Also, gives Teef an opportunity to be that stressed working mom :L  
_**

**_CupofTeaforAliceandHatter:  
Thanks for the review :) Hope you enjoy this chapter!_**

**_SapphyreMyst:  
_****_Yeah, I LOVE writing CloTi and the general family life humourously. I always thought Cloud would probably be sarcastic in his mind, regardless of how little he ACTUALLY says.. That's why I LOVE Horky's fic, Diaries of a Broken Man. First fic I EVER read and the only one I've read more than once. READ. LAUGH. CRY. So good.  
_**

**_Thanks to Aerotyl and SapphyreMyst for favouriting and to SapphyreMyst and CupofTeaforAliceandHatter for adding this to their alerts!_**

**_And lastly, thanks to my dear friend EvilFrisbee for being my beta-reader... to some extent.._**


	3. Crash

"-and then I kicked him in the face 'cause I was like, oh no mister, you ain't getting away with that! And then-"

_Someone shoot me, _Cloud thought dryly as he and Yuffie approached the door of Seventh Heaven. He had put up with her constant chatter the entire way from Nibelheim; save for the half hour of silence that was gifted onto him when he stopped and bought Yuffie a lollipop.  
He had convinced himself that the chatter would lessen when they got home with the threat of Tifa kicking Yuffie's ass looming, but it slowly dawned on him that Tifa actually enjoyed Yuffie's company and would embrace the chatter.

"-and I never ate bananas again. Hey Cloudy, can I ask you a question?"

_Doom,_ he thought as he paused with his key in the front door of the bar.

"...what?"

Yuffie placed her hands on her hips and looked right up at Cloud, a stern look on her face.

_What is she scolding me for now?_

"When are you and Teef gonna tie the knot?"

He stared blankly at her, his mouth beginning to form a small 'o'.

"...what?"

She sighed dramatically, rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air.

"You and Teef! When you gonna get married? I mean-"

_Married?_

"-you've been friends since you were teeny and you obviously love each other-"

_Love? Tifa loves me?_

"-and we've all got bets on when you'll propose, tie the knot and then when Tifa pops out the first kid-"

_Children! Can I even have children? Wait, they're betting on us?_

"-and I kinda need you to pop the question soon 'cause I said you'd do it before the year is out-"

"Yuffie."

"-and I'm not gonna loose 100gil just 'cause you haven't the ba-"

"Yuffie!"

She finally clamped her mouth shut and drooped her lips into a pout.

"I hadn't even thought of marriage-"

Before he could continue what he was saying, there was a crash on the other side of the door. Opening it up, Cloud spotted a vase that must have fallen from the small table resting by the door.  
With a sigh, he crouched down to pick up the shards of glass and continued to talk.

"It's...it's not that I don't want it. It's just... I don't think Tifa thinks of me in that way."

There was a snort of laughter from Yuffie as Cloud tossed the glass into the bin near the counter.

"...what?"

"Tifa likes you like that; don't you worry boyo. Now I'm off the find the lady in question!"

And she skipped off down the back into the house in search of their friend. Picking up the flowers and mopping up the water that was in the vase, something didn't sit right with Cloud.  
How the hell did it fall off the table?  
Once the water was mopped up he took a look at the flowers. They were some of the tulips that grew in the church. Her church. But sadly they were crisp to touch, obviously having been there too long. Tossing the dead flowers into the bin, Cloud ran his hands through his hair as he entered the house.

The first thing he noticed was that there were dirty glasses left on the counter. That alone worried him. Tifa was constantly tidying up the bar and house it seemed, so it made no sense for her to just leave the kids' glasses there. Something wasn't right.  
The second thing he noticed was the lack of Yuffie yapping to Tifa. Neither were present in the kitchen.

Deciding further inspection was necessary, he took in the rest of the kitchen. Denzel's school bag was carelessly thrown on the kitchen table, while Marlene's was nowhere to be seen. Checking the clock on the wall, Cloud's brow furrowed. It was one in the afternoon. The children weren't _supposed _to be home. Beginning to panic, Cloud dropped his gear and flew through the house, looking for somebody to be home.

_Where could Yuffie have gone in that amount of time?_

With one last burst of energy, he found himself in Tifa's room, a place he rarely found himself. Yuffie was bent over the bed, obviously quite upset over the form that was stretched out across Tifa's plush violet duvet. Denzel was rooting through the drawers of Tifa's nightstand, completely oblivious as to what he was rooting through. Cloud was sure he would blush later.

"She said it was here, it must be here!"

Figuring he should make himself known and find out what the hell was going on, Cloud cleared his throat and moved towards the bed and Yuffie.  
Lying on the bed was Tifa, her chocolate-brown hair fanned across her purple pillow, her face ghostly pale. Cloud's brain immediately went into alarm and panic mode and spared no time gently pushing Yuffie out of the way and leaning over Tifa to inspect her better.

"What the hell happened?" he said sharply to no one in particular.

He heard a sniff from Yuffie and a frustrated growl from Denzel. The young boy slammed the drawer shut and fell onto his knees beside the bed.

"I came in early from school a few minutes ago and she slipped and hit her head off the counter. She was still conscious and was able to get herself up here herself and then Yuffie came and helped but now she's unconscious and- and"

Feeling slightly out of his comfort zone, Cloud reached out regardless and pulled Denzel into a quick one-armed hug. The boy did not need to experience the guilt he himself spent years mulling over.

"It's alright Denzel, just call the hospital and tell them we're coming in so they'll be ready for Teef, okay?"

The boy gave a tearful nod and then ran out of the room in search of the phone.

"Yuffie, how was she when you got here?"

Cloud finally looked back at the ninja and was surprised to see her lip quivering.

"She was- was running her words together and-and sounded drunk. She tried to tell Denzel where her cure materia was but-but… I'm so sorry Cloud; I didn't know what to do. Oh my god"

She then proceeded to sob and leave the room with her hand to mouth. Getting more and more panicked at Tifa's current appearance, Cloud slowly reached out and moved her hair from her eyes, caressing her pale cheek gently. As if responding to his touch, she groaned quietly and shifted slightly, opening her eyes a crack before letting them roll back into her head.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath, before gathering her up in his arms and making his way downstairs.

It would be a long day.

* * *

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was actually in hospital myself last week so.. Still sick and all but I tried to get it out as soon as possible. Not as happy with this chapter as the others. Ah well. Let me know what you think! :)**_

_**Reviews:**_

Guest: Thanks for your review! :)

_**CupofTeaforAliceandHatter: Thanks for the review and your nice comments. :) Yea, I feel sorry for both but I think more so Cloud.**_

_**HazzaTL3: Thank you for the 2 reviews! Very much appreciated! There's defiantly going to be some Yuffietine in this but I don't know when and how yet. Yea, I know about Vincent's age but... I suppose he spent 30 of those years in a coffin and never aged in that time? I dunno.. I think it's different from a physically older man. **_

_**SapphyreMyst: I honestly love writing Cloud's inner monologue. Great, great fun. Much easier to write than all that serious stuff.. Thanks for the review again!**_

_**Violet Joe: Sorry for the wait! Glad to hear you like the story! Thanks for the review though. Happy greetings from Ireland! :)**_


	4. The Troubles of Being A Man

**_A/N: Warning, this chapter SUCKS. I swear this is the most suckish thing I have ever written. And it's so SHORT. Ugh. But I had to put something up and I needed to cross this bridge to get where I want to so... sorry. :(_**

* * *

If he had to be honest, Cloud would say he wasn't coping particularly well with the children without Tifa. The doctors had told him it was a knock to the head that had induced her into her currently unconscious state; however the blond could not keep his mind wondering to what may have actually happened. He knew Tifa too long to believe that she just happened to 'fall' or 'trip'. She was too skilled in the art of balance to do something like that. _No,_ he thought to himself as he struggled to stuff the sandwich he had made into Marlene's lunch box. Something out of the ordinary had caused Tifa to lose concentration.

"Cloud, when will Tifa be home? You suck at making sandwiches."

It took every bit of him to refrain from snapping back at Marlene. He knew she didn't mean anything by her words. Hell, had he been raised with Tifa's cooking, he'd be fairly impatient to get her back too.

"I don't know Marlene. I'm going back to the hospital while you're at school today. She might even be back when you get home."

The blond soon realized it was wrong of him to get the little girl's hopes up.

* * *

Once he arrived, he was greeted by Yuffie, who had gone into the hospital late the night before to keep watch over Tifa while Cloud dealt with the children. Her visiting was most certainly outside of the visiting hours; however the nurses didn't seem to welcome the idea of annoying the Wutain ninja. Despite her cheerful and happy disposition, the young woman proved to be extremely irritable and unpleasant when her best friend was in trouble. It made Cloud grateful for her annoying chatter. She had become so serious to the extent that Cloud was almost scared to be around her. However today, she seemed to be her normal self once more.

"Hey Cloud!" She greeted him outside of Tifa's room. However normal she was acting, Cloud sensed something was off.

"What's going on, Yuffie?"

She bit her lip and ran her hands through her hair before deciding to reply.

"Tifa's awake."

It was a statement that was said someone morbidly. Thousands of thoughts began to fly around Cloud's head in the few short moments before he replied._ What if she's lost her memory? What if she doesn't remember me but remembers everyone else? What if her brain's been permanently affected?_

"Yuffie, what's wrong? Is something else wrong with her? Yuffie, is she-"

"Hold on, Cloudy!" she exclaimed, putting hands up to grab his attention.

"There's nothing else wrong with her, buddy. She just awake, just a little bump on her head."

The sigh of relief that came from Cloud was almost comical, running his hands through his hair and then sliding a hand across his face. But something still wasn't right. Yuffie wasn't telling him everything.

"Yuffie…"

She bit her lip a little too hard, and then flashed him an innocent smile, laughing fakely.

"Well… Cloud… Don't stress or anything… But what caused her to fall was… well…"

"Yuffie spit it out." Oh he was getting nervous.

"You know the way we were talking about marriage and stuff? And you were kinda shocked that we all thought you two were gonna get married? Well….that was her breaking the vase. She was at the door about to answer it and she heard us… and legged it away from the door so you wouldn't think she'd heard you. And well…she had been cleaning the floor so she slipped. Story over, let's get some ice cream!"

Cloud stared at her, his eye twitching ever so slightly.

_Fuck._

How the hell was he supposed to face Tifa after this? After her hearing what sounded like him not liking the idea of marrying her? How the hell was he supposed to fix this? If he ever did ask her to marry him now she'd think it was just 'cos he felt bad. And if he didn't ever ask her to marry him they'd always be stuck in that horrible limbo between friends and family. All he wanted to do was punch something.

"Cloud?"

He looked up at Yuffie, who for once actually seemed worried about him too.

"It's… It's okay, Yuffie. It wasn't anybody's fault. It's just put me in a…_very_ awkward position."

She frowned and put her arms around his neck to hug him, and this time only barely squeezing him, more so in an affectionate way a sister would comfort a brother.

"I'm sorry, Cloudy. I'll help you fix this as much as I can. And I promise I'll try not break anything in the process."

Releasing him and giving him a little smile, she headed off towards to doors of the hospital to go and catch up on some sleep. She was gone, leaving Cloud standing in the middle of the hospital ward looking like an idiot.

He groaned and put his head in his hands again. He had to go face her. He had to do this.

After asking one of the nurses if she was still in the same room, he moved down the hallway as slow as he possibly could. He was joking himself; the more he put it off the worse it would be.

Finally, he reached her door and took a deep breath before grasping the handle.

"Hi,"

Tifa looked up from the magazine Yuffie had brought her to see Cloud awkwardly standing in her doorway, hands in his pockets and a blank look on his face.

_Oh shit, oh shit, she's angry at me. Shiva save me!_

"Hey Cloud," she replied, placing the magazine on her little table and beckoning him over to sit beside her with a smile.

He agreed to her wishes, plonking himself down into the chair to the left of her bed, and looking down at his hands.

"So…Err… You feel better?" he asked lamely.

She let out a small laugh, looking down at him fondly.

"Much better. Thank you for looking after me, Cloud."

"Well, eh…um, it was the, uh, doctors really"

_This is not going well._

* * *

Cloud's visit was very brief, leaving the hospital after only twenty minutes, stating that he had to go pick up the kids despite it being two hours before they finished. The doctors told him he could bring Tifa home later that day, as long as she was kept off her feet and stopped doing anything straining. When he informed Denzel and Marlene, they were overjoyed. They said they missed her but Cloud knew deep, deep, _deep_ down inside that it was her cooking and chores she did that they missed the most. _Horrible children,_ he thought humorously.

Before he had to pick up Tifa, he had the children working like little slaves, tidying up all the mess they had allowed build up in the few days Tifa had been in hospital. How they had managed to make so much mess in such little time was beyond Cloud. However he was a little too preoccupied sorting through the washing and throwing clothes aimlessly into the machine to pay attention to them. When he encountered some of Tifa's clothes, primarily her underwear and bras, he tossed them into the machine as if they were poisonous, trying not to look at them too long.

Of course when he finally had the washing done and they looked somewhat presentable, he went to put it away. When he got to Tifa's pile, he deliberated just leaving her clothes folded neatly on the end of her bed. But then the thought that she'd probably want to go straight to bed occurred to him so he ended up deciding to put them into her wardrobe and drawers. Again, he came to her underwear and he found himself blushing out of control. He opened and closed the drawers of her mahogany dresser, not finding the underwear drawer. Eventually though, he did come across it and as a man, he found it hard not to peek, telling himself that he had to make more room in the drawer for the new clothes. Something other than the normal bras and underwear caught his eye. At the back of the wood, rested a black lacy lingerie set. He felt his eyes widen and quickly slammed the drawer shut before he began trying to imagine Tifa wearing them.

_Too late_, he thought, images of Tifa lounging around in that gorgeous lacy fabric.

His cheeks flared up, becoming incredibly obvious against his blond hair. And when he made his way down the stairs, Marlene looked at him innocently with a cute smile on her face. Cloud didn't put any pass on it until her heard her giggle.

"Cloud? Why does your face look so red? You look like a tomato!"

This was followed by another roll of laughter from the small girl and Cloud's face burned a tiny bit more.

"It's nothing, Marlene," he mumbled, the little girl not even hearing what he said as he threw the washing basket into the porch.

"I'm gonna go make Tifa a cake!" was the carefree exclamation that came from the kitchen. The sounds of Denzel muttering to the young girl met Cloud's ear as well, long before he spotted both of them searching for Tifa's cookbook.

"Guys, she wont-"

But he stopped himself. There was no point in ruining the kids' fun. _Let them bake a cake_, he thought bitterly as he sat down in front of the TV so he could keep an eye on them.

_If only a cake would fix this whole mess._

* * *

**_Reviews:_**

**_ACupOfTeaForAliceAndHatter: _**_Yea I know what you mean, don't worry. I am a huge fan of Yuffie and I completely agree with her being intelligant. I mean, how could she be so good at what she does if she wasn't? I think the childishness that kinda comes across is to cover it up sometimes.. I dunno, yea get what I mean? _

**_Guest1: _**_Thank you for your review :)  
_

**_J Luc Picard:_**_Thank you for your review, am always trying to vary the genre!  
_

**_Guest2:  
_**_I know, I liked that part too ^_^ just kind of thought it would be funny for Cloud to have that kind of weird taste.  
_

_**Skyscraper15: **  
Thanks, I'm sorta better, still on the wobbly road to recovery :) Thanks for the reviews!_


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